Gordie Howe Bridge â€“ The Longest Cable-Stayed Bridge in North America; an Ownerâ€™s Perspective-PPT Presentation

PPT Presentation

Pdf Summary

The Gordie Howe International Bridge project is a Canada-funded, $5.7 billion public-private partnership connecting Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. Its design-build-operate-maintain contract includes the bridge, Canadian and U.S. ports of entry, and improvements to the Michigan I-75 interchange. Construction began in October 2018, with a planned 74-month construction period. The bridge’s 853-metre main span keeps its piers out of the water and will carry six lanes, shoulders, and a multi-use path.<br /><br />The project addresses the need for a modern, reliable crossing alongside the privately owned Ambassador Bridge and a functionally obsolete tunnel. Its international setting required “dual design”: two complete sets of calculations, following Canadian and U.S. standards, but one coordinated set of plans. Design requirements include a 125-year service life, high reliability, consideration of climate change, and stringent wind and seismic analyses.<br /><br />Geotechnical conditions created major construction challenges, including soft compressible clays, contaminated fill, buried obstructions and utilities, hard limestone, high artesian water pressure, and hazardous hydrogen sulfide gas. Large-diameter bored piles were used for the main towers and anchor foundations. Construction methods differed on each side of the border; Canadian tower piles faced particularly difficult artesian flows and casing damage, resulting in much longer installation times than the U.S. piles.<br /><br />Pile load tests demonstrated very high capacities: 215 MN on the Canadian side and 167 MN on the U.S. side at 25 mm of displacement. The ports of entry also required extensive ground improvement using wick drains and surcharge preloading to manage settlement in soft soils.

Keywords

Gordie Howe International Bridge

Windsor

Detroit

Canada-funded

public-private partnership

design-build-operate-maintain

international bridge

geotechnical challenges

pile load tests

dual design